Bolton Footwear was established by Charles Searle, who settled in the Groot Brak River area, near George in the southern Cape in 1859.
A diverse group that included a sawmill, tannery, retails shops, automotive sales and service etc. listed on the Johennesburg stock exchange in 1849. In 1980 the company was bought by Desmond Bolton, restructured and named Bolton Footwear Limited in 1987. The company delisted from the stock exchange in 2000. Bolton Footwear is active in the manufacture and wholesale trade and has three footwear manufacturing plants in Groot Brak, Oudshoorn and Port Elizabeth producing 8,500 pairs of high quality leather footwear per day focussing on industrial and civilian footwear. International brands are GH Bass and Lemaitre and local brands are Grasshopper, Watson, Step - on - Airs, Paolo Falcone, Klinik and Fuel. Men's and ladies fashions are cement lasted and hand stitched shoes and safety footwear is dual colour double density polyurethane injection moulded.